Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Just a quick photo update of the figures I bought at Claymore 2012 - or some of them, at any rate. These are the two boxes of Perry Plastic 'Mounted Men at Arms' - and very fine they look too! I've gone for about two-thirds with lances (although there are enough parts for you to do them all that way, if you choose) and a third with hand-weapons like swords, axes, hammers, etc. That's Twenty-four figures in total, which is enough for anything from about 6 bases in something like Impetus or two units in Hail Caesar or the like, without it looking at all unrealistic.

I've decided I'm going to spray the horses down with a brown aerosol (the riders aren't yet glued on) and the knights can then get painted/sprayed metal along with a few bits of barding (horse-armour, basically) and glued into place before the final touching-up. I'm making an effort to adopt more of an 'army-painter' method throughout, as I always tell myself I'll just do it by hand and then come to regret it halfway through!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

I was recently consumed with angst about the state of my painting kit, and was pondering buying a big set - 'Bluebear Jeff' and 'Ubique Matt' were kind enough to give some thoughts (thanks guys!) and as they rather confirmed some things I'd thought myself, I've restricted action to a rather more restrained purchase of some individual paints and a couple of good brushes.

On the subject of big 'boxed sets' however, I have also found myself pondering my next gaming move now that things are finally settling down. Current ones are easy, as the outstanding purchases are the 1/72 boxes necessary for the 1815 French army at Waterloo, and finally to complete the Prussian one further down the line. I've been progressing the painting on the Anglo-Allied army, and as finished units begin to appear it makes sense to run their enemies in tandem, so at least a few little scraps can be played.

Besides that, the other obvious one is the 1/72 Union Army of the Potomac, which will be needed to go on the table against the (nearly completed!) Confederate force. After that however, what next? I change my mind on future projects roughly every week, but you've got to start somewhere and see if the same idea keeps bobbing up in your mind over the weeks and months.

One future project I want to do is more WW2 stuff. I've also been torn over time between doing high-level strategic stuff in Pendraken 10mm, or doing 28mm tactical games. Things have been complicated recently by Warlord Games releasing the 'Bolt Action' tactical-level rules, in the same style as Black Powder & Hail Caesar, to compliment lines of figures they do. Also, it's part-written by Rick Priestley, who was the games guru that created most of the Games Workshop things that first introduced me to wargaming. From reading reviews of the mechanics online it also appears to be a kind of descendant from the old WH40k Epic games, which I absolutely loved back in the early 1990s. So, there's that to ponder.

Bolt Action has also got Warlord offering big 'army deals' for the armies as starter sets, which is pretty tempting. But, in a strange twist of fate, this has also happened elsewhere. Perry miniatures are now doing their Wars of the Roses figures in 'army deals' which they used to only do for ACW and Napoleonic ranges (or maybe they've been doing it for ages - I only noticed it had been added recently.) I know that more WOTR figures might possibly be completely mad, given how many I already have done and painted. Then again, the 'Bloody Barons' rules have proved to be a lot of fun on a few try-outs, and let's be honest: how many wargamers have you ever heard complain that their armies are too big?

Sunday, September 9, 2012

A little request for help from other wargamers out there: can anybody recommend a good range of paints for modelling miniatures, and specifically a good starter set?

This has come about from me trying to get back into a regular painting habit after months of house-moving upsetting the system, but now I've made a terrible discovery - most of my paints have settled and separated, or are nearly depleted! Obviously after the months away I've come back with a fresh pair of eyes, and can see that the paint collection I've used before now (mostly Games Workshop paints, simply because a nearby Hobbycraft stocked them and I could get them easily) is actually greatly diminished, being very old and run-down. In short, barring a few odd paints here and there as 'refugees' I need to buy myself a starter kit to get up and running.

Also, sad to report that my brushes are in dire nick - I'll need to get a new range of good modelling brushes at the same time, making the overhaul complete! So, what do other people out there use? Is there something you'd recommend, or a 'starter' set you know of that's available somewhere? Any and all suggestions are most welcome!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

It has now been about a month since moving house and I posted a back-to-normal message, which turned out to be massively over-optimistic! In the last four weeks, getting the house up and running has proved to be quite a big task, and playing a game has proved to be quite beyond me. I have managed to set up about three or four games but not played anything more than a few turns before having to pack up again because it was taking up time and space which is currently needed elsewhere.

Still, things shall improve with time, non doubt. For the benefit of posting anything other than this brief message, I've dug out some pictures of an old WW2 Western Desert game I played ages ago and never got round to posting - a bit of easy eye-candy, and hopefully a sign that I can get the big campaign going again before long.

Dug-in Brits

An Italian division in prepared positions

British and Italian Armour clash in the open

Close-range tank battles

A German Panzer Division

Brit infantry attack out of their fortified lines, as Italian tanks attempt to flank them

German and British mobile forces play hide-and-seek through the rocky outcroppings

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About Me

I am a wargamer that with many old sets of figures covering the Seven Years War, Ancients, WW1 and ACW in miniature. Most are now banished to the loft, but this blog should cover their use now and again.